Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Helping Hands ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Author's Notes:

 

I don't own the G-boys or anything to do with Gundam Wing, of course. I'm just borrowing them for a bit. ^_^

 

Helping Hands part 3

Heero breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. He didn't want to think about the feel of Duo's hands on his skin and he was very glad Duo had agreed to change the subject. Impassive expression firmly back in place, he took a deep breath and hoped his voice would be its usual, steady monotone when he spoke. "Her name was Katherine...Katherine Taylor. She died over 300 years ago. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but the family heard a scream in the middle of the night. When they looked for the source of the sound, they found her body at the bottom of the stairs. She had evidently fallen and died of a broken neck."

"Evidently?"

"Yes. The day of her funeral, her husband went insane and tried to kill the rest of the family. He kept screaming that one of them had taken his Katherine from him and he would make sure that that person paid for it. He didn't know which one of them was guilty, so he was going to kill all of them. He was restrained and checked into an asylum, where he eventually died, years later."

Duo was fascinated, although he wasn't quite sure why. "You keep saying the family. How many of them were there?"

"Katherine and her husband, Benjamin, Benjamin's parents, and his three siblings. Two sisters and a brother."

"Did Benjamin actually kill any of them?"

"No."

Duo glared at him. "Come on, Heero. Quit making me play twenty questions! Tell me the rest of it."

Heero glared right back at him. "Hn. Fine. The night after the funeral, something happened. Nobody would ever say what, but everyone packed up in a hurry and left the house that night. They all absolutely refused to go near the house ever again. That's when all of rumors about the ghost and the journal started. They say that Katherine was pushed down the stairs. Supposedly, her murderer kept a journal and confessed to the crime in it. Katherine is said to walk the halls at night, reenacting her murder and calling for her husband, Benjamin, to find the journal and bring her murderer to justice. Her spirit will not rest until the true identity of her killer is known. Only then will she be reunited with her husband."

Heero fell silent and Duo stared at him in shock. "Nani?" he asked, irritably. "You wanted to know, so I told you."

Duo shook his head in disbelief. "Damn. I finally get you talking about something other than a mission and I find out you're a closet romantic."

"NANI? What in the hell are you talking about?!"

"Come off it, Heero! 'Only then will she be reunited with her husband,' " Duo mimicked him. "You've fallen for that story, hook, line, and sinker. You're actually hoping that it's true and that someday her spirit will be set free to rejoin her husband, if it hasn't happened already."

Heero glared at him so hard that Duo, who was usually immune to Heero's glares, actually felt it. "I am a soldier," Heero said, voice cold enough to freeze a forest fire in its tracks. "I am not a romantic, closet or otherwise. Enough talk. We have work to do." He picked up a box containing sheets and blankets and headed out of the room and up the stairs to the bedrooms.

Duo, left behind in the dining room, shook his head ruefully. "Duo no baka," he whispered. "He finally shows an interest in something other than the mission and you mock him for it. I knew he had emotions hidden somewhere behind that cold facade. I just don't understand why a 300-year-old ghost story would get him to reveal them. He obviously sympathizes with the ghost, but why?" He shook his head again and began ferrying boxes into the kitchen.

Upstairs, Heero was making the beds in a couple of the bedrooms and muttering to himself. "Duo no baka. I am not a romantic, just because I know what it feels like to be trapped by circumstances beyond your control. Playing a part, and unable to get free without help. I know what it is like to be lost, alone, lonely, and so very empty inside. Knowing that the only one who can fill that void is beyond your reach."

Heero caught a glimpse of himself in the vanity mirror, eyes wide and haunted. "Duo, help me," he whispered as he stood there, frozen, looking into his own lost eyes, and seeing nothing but emptiness reflected back at him. He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. When he opened them and looked back into the mirror again, the impassive face of the Perfect Soldier stared back at him. He turned and went back to his work.

tbc..